Third time's a charm
by SageK
Summary: They say third time's a charm….


#1

The first time it happened was due to the intervention of a pushy 11 year old and an annoyed Jackson Whittemore.

Danny answered the door to pay the pizza delivery guy for the food he and Jackson had ordered and was surprised to see their teammate blinking back at him over the boxes.

"Hey, Isaac, I didn't know you worked at the pizza place," Danny began, but was cut off by an excited squeal from his little sister.

"Kiss!" she demanded, jabbing a finger up at the door jam and then at Isaac. "He's cute!"

Following the line of her finger, Danny saw that someone had hung mistletoe over the door way. It was nice that his family was supportive and all, but really?

"Ami!" he chided, watching as Isaac shifted nervously on the porch. "Sorry, I don't know what…."

Of course that's when Jackson pushed past him, grabbed the pizzas from Isaac and gave him the cash, muttering, "Just kiss him or she won't shut up about it all night."

That was true enough. Ami was relentless, so Danny shrugged, taking a slow step toward Isaac, who looked startled but didn't try to move away (and Danny gave him plenty of time to escape).

The kiss was short and sweet, chaste and Isaac tasted like Doublemint gum. When Danny drew back, Isaac twitched as though to follow him, but held back, cheeks pink.

"Aw," Ami said, giggling before bouncing off.

"Thanks," Danny said with a nervous chuckle. "You saved me from hearing her try to get Jackson to kiss me all night. This will keep her at bay for a while."

That actually got a wry little smile from Isaac, who quipped, "Glad to help."

Then he was trotting away, back to work and Jackson was shouting for Danny to eat his damn pizza….

* * *

#2.

Summer in Beacon Hills equaled a series of parties thrown by members of the popular crowd in an attempt to one up each other so as to maintain or increase their social status. Though Danny was a part of that crowd, he'd never had to scramble for his spot, as it was ensured by Jackson. No one dared cross him (not even now that he had left town), so Danny got to avoid hosting these booze and hormone filled bacchanalias and instead just got to enjoy the occasional party.

Though Hannah Morgan didn't seem to be too stressed over hosting the night's event. Standing atop the coffee table, swaying a little drunkenly, she hoisted an empty bottle and declared, "Spin the Bottle!"

There was a minor ripple of interest and people began wandering over.

Lydia, clearly continuing her quest to let everyone know how over Jackson she was, tossed her hair and dragged Allison toward the circle with her. Allison in turn grabbed Scott, who tossed a bemused look at Isaac, who trotted after Scott like a nervous puppy. No one had to drag Stiles, because as soon as it became clear Lydia intended to play, the boy had launched himself over the back of a chair to get into the circle, limbs flailing wildly.

All in all, the game was fairly tame, though Danny did think Scott was going to faint when Allison leaned across him to kill Kara Potter during her spin. Most of the guys had looked pretty intrigued to be honest, even as they good naturedly heckled Greenberg and Moss for trading a horrified peck. Straight boy double standards.

Danny was still contemplating this when Scott prompted Isaac to go ahead and spin. That was a recent friendship and Danny wondered how it came about. One day, Scott and Stiles seemed wary of the taller boy and the next Scott seemed to have adopted Isaac like a wayward duckling.

A very hot duckling whose high cheekbones flushed a pretty pink as he pushed the sleeve of his sweater up and reached for the bottle. Danny could see a few of the girls around the circle preening, clearly not opposed to kissing Isaac and Danny couldn't blame them.

Isaac had always been cute, but recently he'd jumped several levels on the hottie scale and everyone had taken notice.

The twirling bottle slowed and eyes followed it as it spun, and spun and spun…and landed pointing right at Danny.

Well, huh.

Of course some of their douchier classmates hooted and hollered, but Isaac didn't seem too put out. That was interesting, Danny thought as he leaned across the coffee table toward the curly haired teen. Just like last time, Isaac tasted like mint and seemed sweetly nervous, fingers lightly brushing Danny's arm before they parted.

* * *

#3

"Danny!" Becca Collins shouted, waving a slip of paper with his name on it. Another weekend, another party in Beacon Hills. Tonight they were drawing names for Seven Minutes in Heaven, everyone had tossed a slip of paper with their names in the bowl when they entered and now Becca was matching people up.

So far, a few had declined, some had clearly not done anything in the closet and others came out looking…rumpled.

Danny hopped no one had actually had sex in the closet, because standards.

"Isaac!" Becca bellowed, holing another paper a loft and, once again, people ribbed them and, before either of them could decline, they had been shoved into the closet and the door had been closed.

Immediately, it became clear Isaac was uncomfortable. "Hey," Danny assured him. "It's okay, we don't have to do anything, we can leave now if you…."

"I'm claustrophobic," Isaac blurted, his whole body rigid, waves of stifled panic rolling off of him. "It's not…I…It's so small in here…."

Immediately, Danny reached for the door. "Here, let's…"

Isaac's hand wrapped around his on the handle. "No. I don't like people knowing," he said in a strained voice.

That…made sense. Isaac had been pushed around a lot when they were younger and that tended to make one reluctant to share weakness.

"Okay," Danny said with a nod. "Anything I can do to help?"

"I need to not think about it," Isaac said. "Focusing on something else helps."

Long fingers wrapped around Danny's wrist, pressing against his skin and Danny realized Isaac could probably feel his pulse, beating steadily, maybe a little faster than usual due to their close proximity. Impulsively, Danny took Isaac's free hand and laid it on his chest, letting the other boy feel the beat of his heart and the rise and fall of his breathing. Slowly, some of the panic leeched From Isaac's eyes and Danny gave him a smile.

"Thanks," Isaac murmured and bit his lip, which made Danny glance down at his mouth.

The first thing he could think of, other than 'kiss him', was, "So…mint gum?"

Isaac blinked, then nodded, a small smile creeping over his face.

"We should go for ice cream some time," Danny offered boldly. "I know a place that makes the best mint chocolate chip."

For a minute, Isaac was quiet. Then he asked, "Like…a date."

"Like a date."

"Okay."

The kiss Danny leaned into then wasn't nearly as chaste as the previous two.


End file.
